Is Halal Meat Kosher?

Question

Muslims slaughter a Cow by saying "Bismillah, Allahu Akbar" meaning : "In the name of Allah , Allah is Great"" and follow the Zabiha (shechita) procedure to make it Halal.

Some salient point of the Zabiha procedure:

1) The animal must be alive when it is slaughtered (hence stunning or other procedures to render the animal unconscious should be avoided).

2) The animal must be killed with a sharp knife (hence, a blow to the head would render the animal treif and ḥarām).

3) The knife must cut the neck arteries of the animal: in particular, the trachea, esophagus, cartiod arteries and jugular veins should be cut, while leaving the spinal cord intact.

4) The blood must be drained out.

5) There must be minimal harm to the animal – a painless and quick slaughter is required.

Can such meat be considered Kosher? I have read here that the Pe'at Hashulchan by R. Israel Shklover permits a Jewish shochet to say "Allahu Akbar" without it being a hefsek (interruption), but what about a cow slaughtered by a Muslim?

Answer 1

If a non-Jew slaughters an animal, it is not kosher. (Mishna Chullin 1:1 [English on p. 36 of this .PDF], Rambam Shechita 4:11 [English translation], Shuchan Aruch YD 2:1 In fact, I know of no authority who has ever argued on this point.)

Answer 2

Normative halacha (SA YD 2:1, and Simla Chadasha 2:1) both state unequivocally that the shechita of a non-Jew is forbidden (biblically).
_{See here for why I care so much about the Simla Chadasha.}

However, the opinion of the Rambam (mentioned in other answers, hilchos shechita in 4:11-12) is that gentile slaughter is only biblically prohibited when that gentile is an idol-worshiper. If the gentile is not an idol worshiper, the meat will not be forbidden biblically (but will still be forbidden rabbinically). The Shach (YD 2:2) alters the text of the Rambam to say that the slaughter of kutim¹ is only rabbinically prohibited, but that of gentiles in general is biblically forbidden (regardless of their religious practice).

According to mainstream, modern halacha, one may not choose to follow the Rambam in this because he is the only Rishon that thinks this way² [see related Rambam in שאר אבות הטומאה ב:י where the Raavad (on that linked page) calls this the Rambam's worst idea ("סברא") ever(!)]
That said, my rebbi told me that when he visited a country (I want to say Bengal but I'm not sure), he found that the Jews living there would eat halal meat, based on this Rambam. Again, this is not normative halacha, but that was their custom.

As to the procedure itself: if a Jew would follow all the points mentioned above, plus the Halachos of Shechita (הלכות שחיטה); and the animal was not treifa, then the meat would be permitted. Saying "Allahu Akbar" before slaughter is not preferred (because that could cause a break between the blessing and the slaughter), but does not invalidate the slaughter. (SC 19:8)

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¹ Kutim, in Jewish law, were converts who converted out of fear. They are considered to be sort of Jewish -- therefore, if Rambam refers to kutim, one cannot generalize the law to other gentiles.

² See, however, https://judaism.stackexchange.com/a/52827/5323.

Answer 3

The original question that this was transferred from asked about being in a small community very far away (think Texas or Alaska and the distances between communities in that state) from any source of kosher food (especially meat). He asked if Hallal would be preferable to regular non-kosher meat. He also mentioned eating fish, which is why I mentioned getting kosher fish from a regular fish market.

The hallal is just as much neveilah as any kosher species meat slaughtered by any other non-kosher butcher and just as forbidden. As I explain in Why is meat only kosher if a Jew slaughters the animal?, even if a non-Jew slaughters under the supervision of Jew who makes sure that everything was done properly, the meat is still forbidden as neveilah.

Similarly, you would need to check on how to get kosher fish products from a general fish market. One way would be to get kosher fish (fins and scales) and use your onwn (kosher) knife for the clerk to scale and cut the fish.

There are national brands that have a hechsher that you can find in your local supermakets. There are national brands that you can order to be shipped to you if they are not in your local stores.

Google is your friend. I did a search on Texas ship kosher meat to home and got a number of links to different stores that will send it to you. Note that since I do not need to do this, I cannot verify the kashrus or quality of any of the stores that have these web sites. When you do a google, you would also get non-Kosher ads as well, so you need to double check who they are and what hechsher they have.

For example

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Answer 4

Even if we were to agree that meat slaughtered by Muslims is kosher, they use most of the animal and don't remove nerves.

Answer 5

Since the meat is offered to Allah as it is slaughtered, this food should be considered as food sacrificed to an idol. We have run into Jews that consider Halal meat fine, but the prohibition on partaking of idol sacrifices is very clear.